199 Stafford Street, Hokitika
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for The Children’s House Hokitika are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whāngai Establishing |
The Children’s House Hokitika is a small early childhood centre located on the West Coast of the South Island. It is one of two services in common family ownership. Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and Montessori approaches, underpin the philosophy. The owner and curriculum leader are responsible for the teaching and learning and operations across both centres. Most of the teachers are qualified.
Children, parents and whānau benefit from respectful relationships with their teachers. There are regular opportunities for families to participate in and contribute to the curriculum. Leaders and teachers implement a localised, culturally responsive curriculum while retaining a Montessori programme of learning. They build on children’s individual interests, strengths, capabilities, and knowledge of the local community. Children engage in a range of literacy, numeracy, art, practical life, and nature play experiences, including growing and harvesting vegetables and fruit at the centre. Older children are encouraged to support and care for younger children.
Purposeful links to mana whenua are established to help build culturally responsive practices for tamariki Māori and a bicultural curriculum for all children. Understanding of te ao Māori is variable across the team. The language, culture and identify of all children is not always evident in assessment, planning and evaluation.
Teachers work collaboratively to plan for the learning of individual children, including their interests and parent aspirations. Assessment planning and evaluation, that shows children’s learning in relation to the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, has yet to be consistently implemented for individuals and groups of children.
Leaders effectively foster collaboration within the team and maintain a focus on sustaining improvements that make a difference to children’s learning and wellbeing. They develop, implement, and evaluate systems that strengthen operation and practice. Policies and procedures are current and support teachers to have a shared understanding of service expectations.
A new systematic approach to undertaking internal evaluation has been introduced. All teachers are yet to be fully involved in undertaking internal evaluation and understandings of effective internal evaluation require strengthening.
The Children’s House Hokitika will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
consistently use te reo and tikanga Māori across the teaching team, and increase its visibility in key documentation
ensure the language, culture, and identity of all children, and knowledge they bring with them, are evident and meaningfully contribute to assessment, planning and evaluation processes
consistently use the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki in all assessment planning and evaluation processes
build capability of all teachers to lead and do in-depth internal evaluation to sustain and build on improvements to teaching and learner outcomes.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Children’s House Hokitika completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
curriculum
premises and facilities
health and safety practices
governance, management, and administration.
During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; hygiene; excursion policies and procedures)
suitable staffing (including qualification levels; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
26 July 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
The Children’s House Hokitika |
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Profile Number |
65196 |
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Location |
Hokitika |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
20 children, over the age of 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
33 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 7, NZ European/Pākehā 17, other ethnic groups 9 |
|
Review team on site |
March 2022 |
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Date of this report |
26 July 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2019; Education Review, May 2014 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The Children's House Hokitika is well placed, with additional Ministry of Education support, to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Children's House Hokitika is a privately-owned and led early learning service. It is licensed for 20 children over two years of age and provides sessional and all day care. Most teachers are qualified and registered early childhood teachers with Montessori teaching qualifications. Since the 2014 ERO review there have been some changes in staff.
The centre philosophy draws from Montessori practices and Te Whāriki, The NZ Early Childhood Curriculum, and recognises New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. The philosophy emphasises caring, respectful relationships where children grow in confidence and see themselves as learners.
The centre leader and teachers have addressed several of the areas identified for improvement in the 2014 ERO report. Internal evaluation, strategic planning and induction processes have been strengthened. There is a need to continue developing guidelines for assessment and planning, and evaluating how well the Montessori philosophy and Te Whāriki are integrated into programmes and practices.
This review is part of a cluster of two early childhood education and care centres in the Children's House Hokitika Company Limited.
Teachers know children and their families well. They foster respectful, caring relationships and engage parents in the life of the centre. Children benefit from high teacher-to-child ratios that support one- to-one learning and small group learning opportunities. Children’s wellbeing is actively promoted.
Children learn in calm, purposeful environments. The quality and range of resources available for children fosters their problem-solving skills and promotes their engagement in learning. They are well supported to develop self management and independent thinking skills. Children are actively involved in environmental practices that support 'garden-to-table' practices and practical learning opportunities.
Teachers recognise the importance of developing learner-centred relationships with parents. They have recently begun a new planning process that is more proactive in seeking parent input, and more explicit about meeting childrens' needs, responding to their interests and extending their learning.
Teachers have benefitted from external expertise to build their understanding and use of internal evaluation. A recent evaluation of the integration of bicultural practices into the curriculum has deepened teachers' understanding and positively influenced the content of children's learning programmes. There is increased use of te reo Māori, greater emphasis on te ao Māori concepts and strengthened tikanga practices across the centre.
ERO and centre leaders agree that the next steps to improve outcomes for children are to:
strengthen curriculum leadership and further develop assessment, planning and evaluation practices
increase alignment of the centre’s strategic direction and priorities across key centre documentation and practices, including a more systematic and planned approach to professional development provision
clarify which principles of the service's Montessori-inspired philosophy have been adopted, the rationale for selection and the relationship between these and Te Whāriki curriculum provision
ensure appraisal practices are well understood, fully comply with Teaching Council expectations and are consistently implemented so teacher practice is affirmed and challenged.
ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education provide additional support for curriculum leadership, including the development of planning, assessment and evaluation of children's learning and teaching strategies.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Children's House Hokitika completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; hygiene; excursion policies and procedures)
suitable staffing (including qualification levels; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During the review ERO identified the following area of non-compliance:
Assessment and management of risk (RAMS) when on trips and excursions: The centre must make effective use of its RAMs process to minimise risk.
Source: Criterion HS17 of the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008; Regulation 46(1)(a) and 46(1)(b) Education (ECS) Regulations 2008.
Since the onsite stage of the review, the service has provided further information to ERO that shows improvements in this area.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Region
25 March 2019
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
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Location |
Hokitika |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65196 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
20 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
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|
Service roll |
31 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 13; Girls 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over r 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
January 2019 |
||
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Date of this report |
25 March 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
May 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 2010 |
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ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.